well i hav a pot that holds around 7 or 8 gallons and i have done full boils in it. it works fine and i have never had a boil over but its always close. can i use this for all grain or not? i thought i could but if i hav to boil down like 8 gallons i dont think i can. can i got the right volume consistantly w/ this pot?

I would say that you are cutting it close, but not too close. I think that you can do it. I think that Yooperchick uses or used some strange system using two five gallon pots or something and had it work out fine.

You can get away with it without a problem if you are brewing "average" beers say around 1.045. You can adjust your mash and sparge in such a way you collect about 6-6.5g of wort. You may get less efficiency but not by much. If you want to brew really big beers as AG your going to have to be creative...

I have a 32 qt pot and I run it right to the bleeding edge. Start with it an inch from the top and just keep a steady hand on the valve. I'm doing all grain so yeah, you can use it for all grain. Would I like a 40 qt? Sure. And it's on my short list, but no reason you can't do it with a 32 qt at all.